A herd of elephants has been successfully relocated across Melbourne in a major logistical operation years in the making. The move ensures the animals have more space and a specially designed habitat at their new home in Werribee Open Range Zoo. Mietta Adams reports.
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00:00It's been a huge logistical feat to successfully transfer 9 Asian elephants around 40km from
00:09Melbourne Zoo here to Werribee Open Range Zoo.
00:12And it's this zoo's first time in its 41 year history that it will be home to elephants.
00:17And from all accounts it looks like these elephants are absolutely loving their new
00:20home.
00:21We can see that these elephants are trumpeting and flapping their ears in their new home
00:25and it's left zookeepers emotional.
00:28They've worked tirelessly for years and meticulously planned this move and now they're feeling
00:33relief.
00:34We were so excited.
00:35They came together, they were immediately trumpeting, touching each other, flapping their ears which
00:39really indicated to us that they were feeling really comfortable but also really excited
00:43to see each other again and the whole team was just ecstatic.
00:46The move involved logistics experts as well as 21 zookeepers, a team of veterinarians,
00:51truck drivers and support from the Department of Transport and Victoria Police.
00:55In fact, a run of green lights was organised to ensure the elephants could be transported
01:00as smoothly as possible.
01:01They're now settling into their new enclosure which has a variety of features like mud wallows,
01:06two mega pools, sand pits and state of the art elephant barns.
01:10Two overpasses have also been built to allow the elephants to cross over visitor walking
01:14trails allowing the herd a choice to move between habitats.
01:18As they settle in, staff will be monitoring them 24 hours a day and they'll be free to
01:22roam across their six habitats which are a lot bigger than their old home.
01:27In fact, it is the size of five MCGs so they'll have plenty of stuff to get used to in their
01:32new enclosure.
01:33There'll still be a few weeks before visitors will be able to see these elephants but I'm
01:38sure lots of Victorians and other visitors will be very keen to get down here and see
01:42them in their new home.